Latest Trending Apple Android Smartphones More Topics

Gadget Hacks Features

iOS 18 Tips, Tricks, How-Tos, News

How To: Use Apple Intelligence's Image Playground to Craft Custom Drawings and Animations for Almost Anything You Can Think Of

Growing up, I was told that hard work could get me anything I wanted. But with Apple's Image Playground, I can create almost any illustration or drawing imaginable just by typing or selecting a suggestion. This groundbreaking feature in Apple Intelligence lets you generate images from simple prompts, opening up exciting possibilities for creativity.

How To: Get Creative with Dark and Tinted Home Screen Icons on Your iPhone or iPad

Some iOS and iPadOS apps offer alternative app icons you can switch between. Beyond that, you'd have to create aliases in the Shortcuts app to customize the look of the app icons on your Home Screen. But that would mean two icons for each app in the App Library. Now, in a new software update, Apple has given us a middle ground for Home Screen icon customization.

How To: Generate Text, Images, and Insights with Apple Intelligence's Built-in ChatGPT Integration

Siri has long relied on basic sources like Google and Wikipedia for answers, but with iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, Apple is taking its virtual assistant to a new level by integrating ChatGPT. Now, you can use Siri to generate text and images with ChatGPT — and that's not all. ChatGPT is deeply integrated into Apple Intelligence and goes beyond just Siri.

How To: Disable the iMessage Typing Bubble Indicator So Others Don't Know You're Currently Active in the Chat

Apple's iMessage is one of the main reasons to use an iPhone, and there's a lot you can do in chats without being overly complicated. But there's one issue that continues to drive people nuts, and that's the blue typing bubble indicator with the moving ellipsis (•••). Can you stop it? Not officially, but there are workarounds.

How To: Play Sound from 2 Apps at Once on Your Samsung Galaxy Phone

On a PC, you can play sound from multiple apps at once. It's great, but it can also be confusing — there's a volume slider in each app, then the system-wide one, and probably another knob on your speakers. To avoid this dysfunction, Android only has one sound stream for media. But that has its own problems.

How To: Apple Messages Lets You Switch Rich Link Previews and Use Plain Text URLs for Webpages More Easily — Here's How

The updated Messages app for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS has creative new ways for you to format and send messages, from standard text formatting to fun text effects. But Apple also includes another way to make your messages appear precisely as you want: more control over how links appear for you and your recipients.

How To: 8 States Support Digital Driver's Licenses in Apple Wallet — Which States Are Next?

Apple announced support for mobile driver's licenses and state identification cards in Apple Wallet back in 2021, and Arizona was the first state to jump on board in 2022. Fast forward to now, and only eight states let you add a driver's license or state ID to Apple Wallet on your iPhone and Apple Watch. It has been a slow rollout, but more states are coming or are at least showing interest.

How To: Change Text Color and Background Highlights in Apple Notes on iPhone, iPad, and Mac — The Official Way

Apple Notes may not have all the bells and whistles that a more powerful word processor like Apple Pages has, but this simple text editor continues to gain helpful new features that make it more than just a basic note-taking app. One of these updates finally gives you the ability to highlight text and change font colors, adding yet another way to make important details stand out.

How To: Make the Most of Apple Intelligence's Writing Tools to Proofread, Rewrite, Summarize, and Create Content

Apple has revolutionized how we write with the introduction of its new Writing Tools, powered by Apple Intelligence. In beta on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, these tools allow you to select text and use intelligent features to summarize, proofread, or rewrite it until the tone and wording are just right. In a future beta, Writing Tools can even write original content for you.

How To: Generate Professional Drawings in Seconds Using Image Wand on iOS 18.2 or iPadOS 18.2

Drawing in Apple Notes can be fun, but our sketches may not always turn out as polished as we'd like (cue the "my 5-year-old can draw better than that" jokes). Thankfully, Apple's new Image Wand feature in iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 aims to make creating professional-quality visuals a breeze, even if you lack artistic skills.

How To: New Menu Lets You Set Default Apps on Your iPhone or iPad for Calling, Messaging, Emailing, Web Browsing, and More

Since 2020, you've been free to set your preferred web browser and email app as the default on your iPhone or iPad. Now, four years later, Apple is expanding this flexibility in the U.S., allowing even more apps to be set as defaults for specific actions. Plus, there's now a centralized menu to manage all these default app settings.

How To: Tired of Tapping? Use an External Keyboard on Your iPhone and Unlock Tons of Keyboard Shortcuts

Your iPhone goes with you everywhere, and its touchscreen interface is all you need to navigate and use all your installed iOS apps. But an external keyboard can make your iPhone an even more efficient tool for productivity tasks such as drafting long emails, composing detailed notes, and writing reports in your favorite text editor.

How To: See Who's Viewed Your TikTok Profile (And How to Stop Them from Knowing You Visited Theirs)

Most of you have probably wondered at least once who has been checking out your social media profiles. While most platforms prohibit you from seeing who's viewed your profile, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, TikTok is one of the few places that lets you track profile visitors. And unlike with LinkedIn, you don't have to pay for the privilege.

How To: Get a 'Select All' Button for Webpages in Safari on Your iPhone

It should be simple to select and copy all text on a webpage in Safari, but it won't work as it does in other apps. Usually, you can press-and-hold down anywhere on a page and choose "Select All" from the edit menu, but that functionality is disabled in Safari and WebKit-based browsers by default — including in the latest iOS 14 version. Luckily, there is a workaround to getting a "Select All" button back.

How To: The Secret iPhone Dialer Trick That Dials Extensions Automatically & Navigates Automated Call Menus for You

Automatic phone menus are the worst. You call the number, listen to prerecorded prompts, press button, listen, press button, listen, press button, listen, until you're routed or connected to the right extension, directory, menu, person, or whatever. But you can bypass these automated attendants to get right to where you need to go by setting up a simple shortcut on your iPhone.

How To: Activate Your Samsung Galaxy's Vault to Keep Your Apps, Files, and History Safe from Prying Eyes and Hackers

One UI has an exciting privacy feature that lets you lock apps, photos, videos, and files on your Galaxy device behind Samsung's defense-grade Knox security platform. Only you can unlock it using a pattern, PIN, or passcode, or with biometrics like fingerprint and iris locks. It's like having a safe built right into your smartphone, and it couldn't be easier to set up.

How To: 11 New Features on iOS and iPadOS 18 That'll Make Apple Notes Your Go-To Productivity App

Still on the fence about Apple's native Notes app? The latest Notes update for iPhone, iPad, and Mac is about to change your mind. With some fantastic new features and plenty of valuable tools from previous software versions, Notes is becoming a clear winner when it comes to saving important information from your personal and professional life.

Snapseed 101: Use the 'Healing' Tool to Remove Unwanted Elements from a Photo

Snapseed is an app that you should definitely be using not only if you're really serious about photography, but also if you want to ensure that your online work sets the standard for social media. It's a great companion app to Instagram and VSCO, and it will save your day many times over when you find yourself on your phone, on-the-go, needing to edit an image beyond the typical everyday filters.

Google Photos 101: How to Use Google Lens to Identify Landmarks in Your Images

When traveling or sightseeing, you may come across a landmark you can't quite identify and want to know what exactly it is and the history behind it. It could be a building, waterfall ... anything. If there are no signs around or they're in a different language, you'll have no idea what you're looking at. Fortunately, Google Photos can be your personal tour guide with the power of Google Lens.

How To: Your iPhone's Weather App Has a Crazy Number of Customization Options You Probably Didn't Know About

Apple's Weather app has been around forever, at least for iPhone, and it's gone through many design changes over the years. But we're at a point now where we can actually customize how the Weather app looks and feels in many different ways, some of which you probably haven't even considered.

How To: Safari's Secret Weapon to Distraction-Free Browsing Gives You Complete Control Over Webpage Annoyances

Visit a webpage on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and there's a good chance you'll be bombarded with distractions such as ads, fullscreen pop-ups, cookie consents, log-in requests, notifications, email signups, sticky videos, and calls to action. If you're using Safari and content blockers, "Block Pop-ups," and Reader mode can't hide the elements you need, Apple's got a new tool you should be excited about.

How To: Can't Find an App on Your iPhone's Home Screen? Its Icon Is Likely Hiding from You

You know that you have the Gmail app on your iPhone. After all, you get Gmail notifications, you see it in the app switcher, it's in the Settings app, and there's an "Open" button in the App Store instead of "Get" or a download icon. But you cannot find the app on your Home Screen. If this situation sounds like something you're dealing with on iOS 14 or iOS 15, there's an easy answer.

How To: Transfer Your Authy Account to a New Phone

One of the main reasons Authy was able to top our list of the best two-factor authentications apps was its ability to transfer access to a new device. This feature ensures that whenever you get a new phone, you don't lose all your tokens. However, if the process is done incorrectly, you can leave your account vulnerable.

How To: Add Website Shortcuts to Your iPhone's Home Screen for Fast Access to Web Apps and Bookmarks

There's a way to get instant access to your most-used websites and webpages on your iPhone, and these shortcuts live directly on your Home Screen. Whatever you need fast, frequent, or more convenient access to, whether it's a vital web document or a web app without a native iOS app, your browser can make it happen.